


Little One

by stiley



Category: One Piece
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Other, fictional pirates, single parent ace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 07:42:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4470968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stiley/pseuds/stiley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's lucky to have Ace. He wouldn't trade that for the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm supposed to be writing so many prompts right now, but the thought of Ace being Luffy's only guardian/parent really got to me. I needed to write it out. I hope you like it!

“One of these days, you’re going to give me a heart attack,” Ace says one day, pulling twigs and burrs from Luffy’s hair, “You need to stop running off like that, okay?” 

Luffy’s hardly six years old, still learning his alphabets and he just nods along, not even wincing when Ace pulls on his hair harder than he intends to. It’s not Ace’s fault, he’s still getting used to this, too. 

“Promise me, Luffy.” 

Ace holds out his pinky finger and Luffy wraps his around it, like they always do when they make a promise. He won’t run off next time he sees something exciting. Next time, he’ll bring Ace with. 

"You’re all I have, you know?” 

When he washes Luffy’s hair later on, Luffy only whines a little about needing to take a bath. 

Luffy used to ask about their parents, back when school started and all of the kids had their mom or dad pick them up, but stopped when he saw the pained look on Ace’s face. 

He didn’t want to hurt Ace’s feelings, so when Ace picked him up, he just wrapped his arms around Ace’s neck and murmured, “You’re all I need anyway,” into Ace’s t-shirt. 

He’s lucky to have Ace. Ace takes days off from work to come on field trips and helps Luffy with his homework. He makes special bag lunches and never forgets the tomatoes and sometimes he sneaks a candy bar in here and there when they can afford it. Ace taught him how to tie his shoelaces and he tells him bedtime stories when he’s not working on something late at night.

He wouldn’t trade that for the world.

So when Ace tucks him into bed, he asks to hear the story about the pirate again. He likes that one. He has a green haired swordsman with three swords and a cook with a curly eyebrow and a sniper that can hit a target from miles away. There’s a cyborg and an archaeologist who can sprout body parts anywhere. There's even a navigator who can control the weather.  

He’s almost to sleep when Ace gets close to finishing the story. He likes to stay awake until the very end, but he always ends up drifting off. 

“They hold a banquet in his honor-” 

“With lots of meat?” 

He’s barely keeping his eyes open now.

“Of course,” He grins, “And he doesn’t have a thrown. He doesn’t want one anyway. All his needs is his ship and his crew. He has all the treasure in the world, more than he’d ever want, but you know what the real treasure is?”

He mumbles, “What’s the real treasure,” As he’s giving his all to keep his eyes open just a speck.

“The friendships he made along the way. He started with nothing but a tiny boat and a knapsack on his back, and now look at him. He has friends all around the world and a crew that’s always by his side. And he wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

Luffy’s smiling when he finally drifts off, dreaming of wide open seas and adventures.

 


End file.
